The first solo show of sculptor Amaia Allende, “Out of Sorts”, opened last week at the Tatty Devine boutique and gallery space in Brick Lane, east London. Allende claims to tackle the “subject of belonging” by assembling similar everyday items into tidy rows. By the front door, some sort of green pear-like fruits line up on a narrow shelf. Poking out of the top are long strands of polyester blond hair, which make them look like a family of Mrs Pear Heads. So they belong together, you see, while at the same time having individual personalities (because of the hair).

Rows of fish heads preserved in salt peer out from a long black board mounted on the gallery wall like hunting trophies. Next to them, cast copies of ripe oranges burrow into blocks of dark red velvet, as if victims of a bloody fruit massacre. It looks suspiciously like she has emptied her kitchen bin around the shop.

When John William Waterhouse’s 1896 painting was taken off the walls of Manchester Art Gallery, furious critics described it as censorship or a publicity stunt. That couldn’t be further from the truth, says the artist at the centre of the stormWhen John William Waterhouse’s painting Hylas and the Nymphs was removed from the walls of the Manchester Art Galler […]